John Davidson on Ryan Johansen negotiations: 'It's extortion'
The barbs against Ryan Johansen's agent, Kurt Overhardt, from the Columbus Blue Jackets continued Tuesday night as president John Davidson called the agent's tactics "extortion."
By
Chris Peters
•
4 min read
Another day, another red-hot barb from Columbus Blue Jackets brass directed at Kurt Overhardt, agent for restricted free agent forward Ryan Johansen. This time it came from team president John Davidson who put Overhardt on blast while addressing the media at the rookie tournament in Traverse City, Mich.
There is still a wide gap between what the Blue Jackets are offering – a reported two-year deal with an annual average of about $3.5 million -- and what Overhardt is demanding on Johansen’s behalf, reportedly around $6.5 million. With training camps opening Thursday, time is running out to reach a deal before Johansen officially becomes a holdout.
If tensions were any higher in these negotiations, people would start paying to visit the observation deck. Perhaps it’s already there as Davidson’s outrage got turned up to 11 Tuesday night, just a day after general manager Jarmo Kekalainen also made public comments critical of Overhardt.
“It makes no sense,” Davidson said [about Johansen’s camp’s demands]. “When you see numbers that are thrown at us, we shouldn’t even respond. That’s how bad it is. It’s embarrassing. And if the kid sits out, he sits out. I wonder if the agent’s going to pay him his money back that he’s going to lose by sitting out.
“With the numbers they come back with…are so one-sided it’s nonsensical. It’s extortion is what it is. I don’t make this stuff up. I’ve been in this league doing this for a long time now and this one here, it’s baffling is what it is. This one’s baffling. Baffling.”
Strong, strong words from one of the more respected executives in the game. When things start getting emotional and personal, that’s when you know desperation is setting in.
With Davidson using words like extortion, it may be overly dramatic, but the anger appears real. The president's blustery comments also put a bit of a target on Overhardt’s back, and by association, Johansen’s as well.
By going the route of blasting Overhardt, who has had clients hold out in similar fashion previously (Kyle Turris with the Coyotes and Brandon Dubinsky while with the Rangers), the Blue Jackets want their fans to know who is at fault for things not being done yet, even though it's a two-way street here.
Make the agent the bad guy. That's a pretty easy sell to the fans who will instantly think of super agents like Scott Boras, Drew Rosenhaus or the Bob Sugar character in Jerry Maguire. Make the player look selfish. All of the sudden those 33 goals Johansen scored last year kind of melt away in the “what have you done for me lately” category.
The hockey culture definitely casts selfishness in a negative light and fans don't like it when players appear like they're getting greedy. But make no mistake, what Johansen is doing isn't selfish, it's business. He is using the only leverage available to him as a restricted free agent to get the most favorable deal.
The Blue Jackets are similarly using Johansen's relative lack of leverage to get the deal they think is most fair for their budget and salary cap structure. The problem is that there has been no wiggle room between the two parties for pretty much the entire offseason.
Overhardt responded to the outrage in a rather smart, reserved way (though one that probably won’t appease fans any) in comments to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
"The most important thing I can do is not react," he said. "This is not an emotional situation for me or my client. Ryan loves playing on Columbus. (He) is fully committed to the organization. We’re going to ignore the noise on the outside and focus on getting a deal done."
It’s not emotional, it’s business. The Blue Jackets executives are starting to make it emotional, though. It's not a great look for them, but it also shows just how important Johansen is to this team's present and future and the fact that they may have run out of options.
Johansen and Overhardt are over-asking based on one terrific season, while the Blue Jackets want to see more before paying big and that’s perfectly reasonable. However, if neither side seems willing to compromise, what’s next?
What’s next is someone is going to have to blink. How long before that happens is anyone’s guess, but this situation seems to be getting worse, not better as days turn to hours before the Blue Jackets welcome their players back for training camp.
